Sequoia Capital and Nexus India have infused the funds in city-based Unicon Financial Intermediaries, which is promoted by former Indiabulls executives - Gajendra Nagpal and Ram Mohan Gupta.

The deal assumes significance amid a meltdown in the domestic stock market, following which some of the financial services firms have seen a considerable drop in the value of their share price.

The company would utilise the funds raised for its expansion plans and is looking to increase the number of its offices to over 160 place across India from about 100 currently, a company release said.

“There is a lot of potential of brokering services in India and the meltdown in the market is a temporary phenomenon. The investments reaffirm foreign investors’ faith in the Indian financial services space and its long-term growth prospects,” Gajendra Nagpal, CEO of Unicon Financial, said.

“Once the market recovers, the trading turnover will again reach the levels they were in January this year. We aim to take these services to the Tier II and Tier III cities and educate people about investing in stock markets,” Nagpal added.

Unicon has a pan-India presence with over 100 branches and franchisee network in about 250 locations. It intends to focus on retail customer acquisition by creating an extensive infrastructure of financial product distribution and expand branch network.

Sequoia Capital is a leading private equity player in the growth markets of US, China, India and Israel.